Raphael The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament 5th Centenary of the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament

The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament is one of a series of frescoes produced by Raphael who was commissioned by Pope Julius II in the 1500s to decorate the Vatican’s Stanza della Segnatura. The artist from the Marches region personally directed the work on the rooms of the Segnatura whose name comes from the fact that the space used to be the Signatura Gratiae Ecclesiastical Tribunal. Dating back to 1509, the frescoes are very large in size (500 x 770 cm) and can be best appreciated when viewed in two halves: the upper half showing a heavenly scene and the lower half displaying an earthly reality. The upper part shows the Church triumphant with a harmonious scene of Saints and Apostles, Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist, while the lower part depicts the Church militant with a scene bringing together philosophers, artists and scholars. The Philatelic and Numismatic Office has produced a postal sheet showing the entire painting and three single postal stamp values which highlight some of the details, offering a good example of the painting by the artist from Urbino.